Jerry Nadler knows something about Donald Trump’s impeachment that we don’t
The Democratic leaders in the House have been fairly consistent in public when it comes to their stance on Donald Trump’s impeachment. It can be summed up in four words: not at this time. That’s left the question of “if,” and the followup question of “when.” Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler dropped a strong hint that he knows something the rest of us don’t.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is set to publicly testify this Wednesday about his investigation into Donald Trump’s crimes. While it won’t be everything that the most excited of Resistance members are dreaming about, it will nonetheless be devastating to Trump. The polls say that just under half of Americans want Trump impeached, and that the number has been slowly but steadily rising. Mueller’s televised testimony about Trump’s crime spree should provide a spike in that number.
It’s notable that Jerry Nadler decided to appear on television today at all. This suggests that he’s expecting Mueller’s testimony to cause a significant spike in those numbers, or he wouldn’t be out there trying to get ahead of it. Moreover, Nadler appeared on Fox News this morning, making clear that he’s hoping Mueller’s testimony will convince some of Trump’s own most tepid supporters to turn against him. But most important was what Nadler specifically said this morning.
Jerry Nadler said that there is very substantial evidence that Donald Trump is “guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.” He would only stake himself to this if he expects the majority of Americans to come away from Mueller’s testimony with this same impression. Nadler sounds like he’s expecting Wednesday’s public hearing to deliver a sea change when it comes to impeachment – and he also sounds like he’s planning to move ahead with some variation on the impeachment theme if he does get the results he’s looking for. What does he know that we don’t?
